PHOTOS COURTESY OF LARRY DAVIDSON Trucks from Southport Lumber Co. drop off a load at a construction site.

Last week’s monthly meeting of the Perry Township/Southport Historical Society was particularly interesting, as our guest speaker was Larry Davidson, whose family owned and operated Southport Lumber Co. for many years before changing its name to Davidson Industries.I arrived a few minutes early and was pleased to see that a good crowd was gathering. Before the program got under way, the society re-elected its officers for another term: Diane Saari, president; Barry Browning, vice president; John and Carol Winkler, treasurers; and Judy Elder, secretary. Diane then introduced Larry, who made a made a wonderful presentation while discussing the business through the decades.Before his grandfather purchased the business in the mid-1920s, his grandfather had been manager of the facility for several years.Because of the Great Depression in the early to mid-30s, business was almost nonexistent, but sales picked up in the ’40s. The housing boom of the mid-50s to mid-60s was a profitable time for the company, which was operated by Larry’s father during that era.The name change came in 1970, when the company was getting away from selling lumber and moving toward the manufacturing of roof and floor trusses, wall panels, doors and windows. As such, the customer based moved to mostly commercial and custom home builders.During the late 1950s and ’60s, my father owned a Sunoco service station on Madison Avenue in the Edgewood area. For years we provided the primary services on all of the lumber company’s trucks. This work was done on the weekends, when the trucks were not in use. Some weekends we might have to service eight to 10 trucks (including washing them) in addition to our normal weekend business, and it would often take six to eight employees to get the work done. Larry brought some photos with him and passed them around; they were like icing on the cake to his program. My two favorites pictures featured some of the company’s trucks, and I know that they were the ones we serviced and washed back in the day. Looking at them flooded my mind with memories. He also had some lists of employees from the 1950s, from which I recognized several of the names as parents of my classmates.It was a special evening. I’m sure most of us left with fond memories renewed. Thank you, Larry.

I attended Perry Township Schools, and those 12 years were educational, enjoyable, memorable and sometimes exciting – although probably not in that order. Last fall I attended a meeting of the Greater Southport (now Southside) Business Alliance, and the speaker was Perry Schools Superintendent Thomas Little.He outlined some of district’s accomplishments and spoke of things to come. He told us that the old James Whitcomb Riley Grade School, a long-closed township facility on Shelby Street and adjacent to Rise Learning Center, would be reopened as the alternative school, which would be relocated from the Education Center on Orinoco Avenue. The renovation was coming along nicely, and things were looking good. I saw Dr. Little after the meeting and explained to him that I was in Riley’s first graduating class. He smiled and gave me a puzzling look.I explained that as a first-grader I attended a crowded Edgewood Grade School. At that time, all eight grades of an elementary school were housed in one building. We watched as a school was being built next to ours. As a second-grader, I was switched to the Riley building, which had been constructed to accommodate six- and seven-year-olds.I then moved back to the Edgewood for the third grade. So, we were the first class of students to attend and then move forward from the Riley building.Jumping ahead to earlier this year, bad weather delayed the start of school after Christmas break. But when school did resume, the Riley building leaped into life. An open house had been planned but was postponed when Old Man Winter came calling. When the weather finally allowed for the event on March 3, we received a warm welcome from the school’s staff. A tour of the building was provided, and we met students and instructors. We gathered in a large room and were brought up-to-date by staff members and Dr. Little during a wonderful presentation.Barry Browning, vice president of the Perry Township/Southport Historical Society and a former Riley and Edgewood student, was on hand, as were three gals from my second-grade class: Carol Kottkamp, Judy Poland-Hobbs, Sharon Brinkoetter-Kinder. Those girls and I had the same teacher: Margaret Rickard. We all had big smiles on our faces as we walked down the second-grade hallway. My good friends, Denise Summers and Sherry Hubert from The Southsider Voice were also there as they are James Whitcomb Riley and Edgewood alumni, too. The evening brought back lots and lots of special memories.The Edgewood/Riley buildings and property were the center of everything in that part of the township during the late 1940s through the early ’60s. There were always basketball games on the 12 or 13 outdoor courts, and the PTA put on a giant fish fry each year. I’m sure that all of the former students and teachers who attended the open house went home with big smiles on their faces. I know I did.